Half-God Half-Devil Tour takes Worcester by storm!

▣Palladium | Worcester, MA ▣Sunday, April 23th 2017

The highly anticipated Half-God Half-Devil Tour was finally here! The return of Maria Brink and her band In This Moment along with the rest of the line up, made for an incredible night of music. Bands like Motionless In White and Avatar, kept the nights momentum on high.

The line wrapped around the Palladium in Worcester Massachusetts for the Half God-Half Devil Tour, and fans were dressed the part for tonight’s show. As I headed into the venue, Gemini Syndrome was up on stage and I made my way to the pit area. Unfortunately, it would be their last song of the night and I wouldn’t get enough ammunition to properly review their set.Avatar, the band out of Sweden, would take the stage next. Although I had heard about their theatrical shows, I was not familiar with their music. So I was really looking forward to the start of their set.

The crowd was as anxious as I was and let out a loud cheer when the lights went out. The guys hit the stage to loud, welcoming cheers. All members of the band were dressed in the same suits, which resembled 18th-century gentleman’s riding habits. But no one wore it better than their head ringmaster and frontman, the charismatic Johannes Eckerström. He commanded his band with his black relic with a skull metal top. His smile painted black, was infectious in the most of evil of ways. On drums was the co-founder of the band John Alfredsson, and the other co-founder of the band Jonas Jarlsbyon was on lead guitar. Henrik Sandelin on bass and Tim Öhrström on guitar, both were just as explosive and dramatic. Their sound was melancholic, yet heavy. and their stage presence was an intense visual presentation . They were absolutely captivating and would one of the best sets that I’ve seen live. I personally can’t wait to see them again.

Up next was Motionless In White, out of Scranton Pennsylvania. One of the best metal core bands to come out of the U.S. this past decade, Motionless In White is known for their spookymand aggressive sound. The band is also known to leave it all out on stage with every performance. Consisting of Chris ‘Motionless’ Cerulli (lead singer), Ryan Sitkowski (lead guitar), Ricky “Horror” Olso (rhymn guitar), Devin “Ghost” Sola (bass) and Vinny Mauro (drums). Tonight would be no different as the talented guys from Motionless In White showed Worcester no mercy. Pumpkins and candles lit the stage, Cerulli waived his fist up in the air and filled the venue with his powerful voice, as the rest of the guys paraded their instruments. The mouth of the pit opened and spit out the moshpit that had formed as fans sang along with their heroes. Motionless In White went on to play favorites like Devil’s Night, Death March, and the System of A Down cover, Chop Suey- Cerulli sang to the crowd, while letting the fans upfront sing along. The band closed their set with Eternally Yours and Reincarnate, and at the end the fans wanted more.

Motionless in White showed a strong following here in Worcester, but most of the venue was here to see In This Moment’s show, for the chance to ‘Become The Show’ with lead singer Maria Brink. Maria, the new queen of metal, has become extremely popular for her live shows. Calling herself now, ‘Mother Maria’, fans were hoping to see both sides of the beast. When the lights finally went out, loud cheers filled the venue. A white cloth with a Black Widow in the middle covered the stage, and when it came down it unveiled In This Moment- with white masks with crosses on, Randy Weiszel (guitar) and Travis Johnson (bass) stood to the side as Brink, who was on a platform, would start their set with Blood. Because of the amount of smoke that quickly built up on stage from the smoke machines, it was hard to get a glimpse of the band. But because of the smaller sized venue, Maria Brink and the guys from In This Moment never sounded better. Their mesmerizing set kept us all captivated while playing fan favorites like Adrenalize, Burn and Sick Like Me. It was easy to see that tonight’s performance was about the fans. Maria would also have a couple very intimate moments. First, while singing the song Fighter and during the first song from their encore- Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight. Maria sang it beautifully and put on a magical performance of the cover. Maria Brink would close their set with Whore, as she stood on pedestal and controlled the crowd while large black and white balloons fell from the ceiling and crowd surfers took their last ride of the night. Maria brought everyone out for a last bow and received a standing ovation from the Worcester crowd.

It was a night filled with amazing performances. All three bands were incredible and fitting to the bill. Avatar, unknown to their music prior to the show, gave me the biggest surprise of the night. They truly made a new fan out of me. Motionless In White kept all of us at the edge of our seats. And although In This Moment’s captivating spectacle was not a surprise, it was more than what we hoped it would be. The only draw back to the show was during In this Moment’s set- they had smoke machines working double time, making it hard to see the stage at times. All in all, this tour will be remembered by fans for a long time.